中国成人英语学习的焦虑变量分析
作者：张慧
JiLin University
吉林大学
2000年3月
Master’s Degree Thesis
An Analysis of Apprehensive Variables in
EFL for Chinese Adults
Major: English Linguistics & Literature
Author: Zhang Hui
Supervisor: Prof. Liu Xiyan
Dept. of English, College of Foreign Languages
JiLin University
March, 2000
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION (1)
1. ANXIETY AND ITS EFFECTS ON SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION ( SLA) (1)
1.1 L ANGUAGE A NXIETY & C OMMUNICATION A PPREHENSION (2)
1.2 A PPREHENSIVE E FFECTS ON SLA (3)
2. APPREHENSIVE VARIABLES IN EFL FOR CHINESE ADULTS (3)
2.1 L EARNER-INTERNAL F ACTORS A FFECTING A NXIETY IN A DULT SLA (ALA) (4)
2.1.1 Anxiety Caused by Cognitive-Processing Elements in ALA (4)
2.1.2 Anxiety Caused by Strategy-Adopted Elemnts in ALA (6)
2.1.3 Anxiety Caused by Self-Related Elements in ALA (9)
2.2 A PPREHENSIVE V ARIABLES IN EFL FOR C HINESE A DULTS (12)
2.2.1 Anxiety Induced by Natural Conditions in EFL in China (13)
2.2.1.1 Natural Conditions Restricted to Limits on Linguistic Exposure................................ (13)
2.2.1.2 Natural Conditons Restricted to Deficiencies in Educational Situations (15)
2.2.2 Anxiety Induced by Empathic Capacity in EFL in China (16)
2.2.2.1 Anomie Aroused by Language Shock and Cutural Shock (17)
2.2.2.2 Inhibiton Aroused by Introverted Personality (18)
2.2.3 Anxiety Induced by Low Self-efficacy in EFL in China (19)
2.2.3.1 Self-Efficacy Reduced by Chinese Low Self-Esteem in EFL (20)
2.2.3.2 Self-Efficacy Reduced by Chinese Learned-Helplessness Underlying Their Attribution (21)
3. PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS TO DISPEL ANXIETY (25)
3.1 P EDAGOGICAL I MPLICATIONS (25)
3.2 S UGGESTIONS TO DISPEL ANXIETY (27)
CONCLUSION (30)
REFERENCES (31)
ABSTRACT (1)
An Analysis of Apprehensive Variables in
EFL for Chinese Adults
Introduction
Within the last few decades, based on the values of humanistic education and student-centered approach, several affective-based teaching methods including Curran’s Community Counseling, Lozanov’s Suggestopedia, Asher’s Total Physical Response and Terrell’s Natural Approach, began to pay much more attention to the learner’s emotional stages. They have been developed as successful techniques to induce in learners a state of mental relaxation and comfort intended to maximize language acquisition. Contrarily, the emotional reverse of “relaxation”is known as anxiety.
Anxiety is one of the important affective variables identified in "Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis". Generally speaking, affective variables are those factors that deal with feelings, the emotions of pleasure and displeasure that surround the enterprise of task, such as, second language learning. They mainly deal with the emotional reactions and motivations of a learner and signal the arousal of the limbic system and its direct intervention in the task of learning.
Internal to learners, anxiety is an emotional response, a kind of apprehensive state aroused by the attempts to learn a foreign language which strongly influence the learner’s Second Language Acquisition (SLA). In combination with motivation and self-concept, anxiety, as a debilitating factor, affects what a learner admits for further processing. In China, language anxiety has been an obstacle in English as a foreign language (EFL), especially for adult learners.
Many factors cause anxiety. In comparison with a child's acquisition, adults experience more anxiety because they face greater difficulty due to the potential effect of age, cognitive growth, increasing self-consciousness and differential environments between the first language (L1) and the second language (L2). Besides, some internal factors of learners, such as, self-perception, cognitive processing and communication strategies should also be considered.
In China, the problem of anxiety appears to be more acute. In this thesis, the apprehensive variables in adult SLA (ALA), especially in EFL for Chinese adults are analyzed in great detail, focusing on China’s special characteristics, both culturally and environmentally. Meanwhile, some pedagogical suggestions are also given in combination with the effect of motivation and self-concept in EFL.
1. Anxiety and Its Effects on SLA
As a filter element, anxiety is one of the important affective variables that affect SLA negatively. There are so many kinds of anxiety: test anxiety, classroom anxiety, social anxiety, reticence and so on. Here, in terms of EFL for Chinese adults, only language anxiety and
communication apprehension are concerned in this thesis.
1.1 Language Anxiety & Communication Apprehension
In the course of foreign language learning, many learners, especially adult learners, claim to have a kind of mental block or apprehensive reaction that impedes their ability to perform successfully in a foreign language situation. Such an apprehensive state, a kind of vague fear that is only indirectly associated with an object, is termed as anxiety by psychologists. Language anxiety is only one of several types of anxiety that have been identified by psychologists.
Language anxiety is " a type of anxiety unique to second language learning and conceived of as something more than the sum of its component parts." (Horwitz 1991, P.26) It can be defined as “the feeling of tension and apprehension specifically associated with second language contexts, including speaking, listening, and learning.”(MacIntyre & Gardner 1991b)
In general, there are two approaches to the description of language anxiety: (1) language anxiety may be viewed as a manifestation of other more general types of anxiety. For example, a test-anxious learner may feel apprehensive when learning a language because he feels constantly tested; (2) language anxiety may be seen as a distinctive form of anxiety expressed in response to language learning, that i s, something unique to the language learning experience makes some individuals nervous. Generally speaking, foreign language anxiety is considered as a distinct complex of self-concepts, beliefs, feelings and behaviors related to SLA arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process.
There are many types of language anxiety such as test anxiety, fear of negative social evaluation, communication apprehension, etc.. Among them, communication apprehension is the common one, especially for Chinese adults in EFL.
Communication apprehension is a type of shyness characterized by "fear of or anxiety about communicating with people." (Horwitz 1991) The difficulties in speaking in dyads or groups (oral communication anxiety) or in public (stage fright) or in listening to or learning a spoken message (receiver anxiety) are all manifestations of communication apprehension.
Communication apprehension or some similar reaction obviously plays a large role in language anxiety. People who typically have trouble speaking in groups are likely to experience even greater difficulty speaking in a foreign language class where they have little control of the communicative situation and their performance is constantly monitored. Moreover, in addition to all the usual concerns of oral communication, the foreign language class requires learners to communicate via a medium in which only limited facility is possessed. The special communication apprehension permeating foreign language learning comes from the personal experience one has in understanding others and making oneself understood. Possibly because of this experience, many otherwise talkative learners are silent in a foreign language class. Here, due to its emphasis on interpersonal interactions, "the construct of communication apprehension is quite relevant to the conceptualization of FL anxiety." (McCroskey, 1977). Actually, communication apprehension has
many logical ties to foreign language (FL) anxiety because it represents the anxiety experienced by many people even when communicating in their first language. Since the characteristics of FL anxiety in EFL for Chinese adults are mainly reflected in the form of communication apprehension, it’s necessary to probe further into its causal variables.
1.2 Apprehensive Effects on SLA
As an emotional state, anxiety is generated through the arousal of the limbic system, the primitive, subcortical state of the cerebrum, which plays an important, though indirect, role in many kinds of human enterprises, including communication. Therefore, anxiety is "the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system." (Spielberger, 1983). As an effect of these responses, anxiety will distract from the task of attending to and remembering new items. It discourages the practice that will establish new items.
Although anxiety can play a favorable facilitating role in some cases, it fails learners' performance as it is a kind of interference. Where SLA is concerned, language anxiety has been found to be an obstacle to foreign language learning. In fact, many second language researchers have long been aware that anxiety is often associated with language learning in a negative way. It has been found that low achievers show emotional, inner conflict or anxiety. Recently, it has been hypothesized that anxiety plays a role in success or failure in FL classroom. Young (1989) believes that the anxiety in FL classroom occurs primarily because the student has to speak the FL in front of a group. Horwitz and Cope (1994) suggest that there is likely to be a strong negative correlation between FL anxiety and FL proficiency, that is, as FL proficiency increases, anxiety decreases. Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn that language anxiety plays a negative role in foreign language learning. This can be further evidenced by the case of EFL in China where most adults have experienced communication failure in anxiety conditions. Thus, anxiety will be discussed as a specific type of debilitating factor in EFL for Chinese adults in this thesis.
Since language anxiety has so profound an effect on many aspects of foreign language learning, it’s important to identify its main components. Hence, an analysis of such causal variables of anxiety in ALA, especially in EFL for Chinese adults will be made next.
2. Apprehensive Variables in EFL for Chinese Adults
To analyze the apprehensive variables in EFL for Chinese adults, it is necessary to explore the causal factors of anxiety common to adult learners. This is because, in SLA, in comparison with children, adults will face more difficulties that arise from the differences of acquisition in such aspects as:
Cognitive differences: native language is acquired in an unconscious and automatic fashion. Children are exposed to language data on an unorganized basis and they develop language in tandem with cognitive and maturational development. In contrast with it, SLA is a conscious and controlled process that occurs on an organized basis. In addition, second language learners, being older, are more capable of formal grammatical reasoning.
Contextual differences: native language is acquired in a “natural”environment, whereas the second is generally learned in an “artificial”environment, the classroom. The acquisition of one’s native language occurs without any organized pedagogical intervention, except for occasionally controlled language input of adults. A second language learning is assimilated directly by pedagogical activities and is characterized by formal learning procedures.
Motivational differences: first language acquisition comes naturally and not as a result of the discovery of its practical utility. Second language learners, however, must be motivated to learn a new language thus producing different expectations and results according to different motivational factors.
To sum up, these differences force adults to experience more difficulties in SLA. Besides, some internal factors of adult learners themselves should also be noticed.
2.1 Learner-Internal Factors Affecting Anxiety in ALA
V olumes of anxiety researches have demonstrated the pervasive influence that anxiety can have on “cognitive, affective and behavioral functioning.”(MacIntyre & Gardner 1991) Having recognized this point of view, the further detailed discussion will be made concerning the learner-internal factors in which some cognitive-processing elements (cognitively), strategy-adopted elements (behaviorally) and self-related elements (emotionally) are involved.
2.1.1 Anxiety Caused by Cognitive-Processing Elements in ALA
When linguistic input is received by learners, it will be processed through a series of procedures such as editing, filtering, processing and monitoring so that the new language material can be eventually output. During this process, anxiety, as one of the important affective variables, determines how much the language input will be filtered and even affects the ultimate acquisition of language, thus playing a key role.
However, it has been suggested that "anxiety causes cognitive interference in performing specific tasks, such as communication apprehension." (Schwarzer, 1986), which can be explained as a cognitive process seen at three stages: input, processing and output.
The input stage i s concerned with the initial representation of items in memory. At this stage, external stimuli are encountered and internal representations are made; attention, concentration and encoding occur. Because fewer items are available for processing or later retrieval, anxiety-arousal at this stage has an impact on all subsequent stages. For example, in SLA, difficulty may arise if the language is spoken too quickly. Thus, at the input stage, anxiety may be caused due to attention deficits or poor initial processing of information.
Therefore, people with high anxiety are easily distracted from the task because time is divided between the processing of emotion-related and task-related cognition. As for adults in SLA, if they have disadvantages of poor listening c omprehension, vocabulary deficits or cultural-background ignorance, they will be involved in the dilemma of misunderstanding, missing part of the input, being confused or even totally lost in the input transmitted in the target language. Thus, they will
suffer from input anxiety, a kind of apprehension experienced when listening in the communication. Take Chinese adults for instance, most middle-aged learners suffering greatly from poor listening comprehension can hardly follow those who speak too quickly so that anxiety is probably aroused
in the form of communication apprehension or receiver apprehension. Such situations are usually reported as: “I get flustered unless English is spoken very slowly and deliberately.”or “I get upset when English is spoken too quickly.”… It is also found that the occurrence of auditory problems is related to the input stage. That is, the difficulties of sound discrimination and sound-symbol aspects
of language are largely responsible for those FL learning problems and arouse anxiety eventually.
The processing stage involves the cognitive operations performed on the subject matter: organization, storage and assimilation of the material. This stage involves unseen, internal manipulations of items taken in at the input stage. Therefore, latency is the primary indicator of activity at the processing stage and potentially causes anxiety. Tobias (1986) claimed that anxiety impairs cognitive processing on tasks that are more difficult, more heavily reliant on memory and more poorly organized. Each of these increases not only the demands on processing time but also
the possibilities of generating anxiety. In a second language context, the time taken to understand a message or learn new vocabulary would dictate the degree of activity at this stage. Consequently, at
the processing stage, as the task becomes more difficult relative to ability, anxiety shows greater impact on processing. Interference with the rehearsal of new information is an example of this type
of effect.
In contrast with children, the processing stage appears to be more complicated for ALA because of their conscious learning, which can also be evidenced by Krashen’s Monitor Model. It claims that a second language performer can use conscious rules only when three conditions have to
be met. That is, only when he has: (1)time to inspect the utterance before it’s spoken, (2) to be consciously concerned about correctness and focus on the form, (3) to know the rule.
However, in most cases, such as, in a natural conversation, all of these conditions can rarely be met. Normal conversation tends to be quite rapid and does not allow time to think about and use rules. The speaker’s attention is usually on what is being said, not on how it is being said. In addition, the learner’s conscious knowledge of grammar covers only a small portion of the rules of
a language since the structure of language is extremely complex. It can be said that adult learners
are exposed only to a small part of total grammar of a language. Therefore, this rarely-actualized operation of a monitoring function further strengthens the effect of anxiety at this stage.
Meanwhile, as formal learners, adults seldom have sufficient time for the intrusion of their consciously learned knowledge. When the conscious monitoring process is being operated and progressed, the time of processing stage is also extended at the same time so that it has to be shortened accordingly at the next stage. In the end, inefficiency or failure may be generated due to this time limitation, which further enhances the learner’s anxiety level.
Unlike adults characterized as “formal thinkers”, children acquire language in situations that appear to be “monitor-free”. They only focus on communication rather than on linguistic form. Besides, having benefited from absence of self-consciousness, children are less aware of the
differences between the two language systems and rarely apply the first language structure to the learning L2 structure so that their processing stage is more simplified than that of adults. In so doing, on the other hand, children also create fewer errors derived from L1 interference. As a result, children experience less apprehension than adults when learning a second language.
Output involves the production of the previously learned material. Performance at this stage is highly dependent on the previous stages, in terms of the organization of the output and the speed at which items are retrieved from memory. It is at this stage that learners are required to demonstrate their ability to use the second language. Performance at the output stage can be measured by test scores, verbal production, and the qualities of free speech.
The output anxiety can be universally found in the cases of EFL in China. Even though Chinese adults are excellent in writing competence or have a large vocabulary, they still find themselves rather awkward, stupid or even frozen in communication. Sometimes, although they have an idea of the semantic meaning of an English word, they still fail to verbalize it forgetting or being innocent of the authentic expressive way in the target language by means of “phonetic entity”. Therefore, anxiety may interfere with the retrieval of the previously learned knowledge and the experience of “freezing”on an oral production can be attributed to the influence of anxiety at the time of retrieval. That is also the source of “just on the tip of the tongue.”
It has been suggested that these three stages are interdependent and each stage depends on the successful completion of the previous one. For example, the difficulty in the performance at the output stage may be caused by deficits created at the input or processing stage. Therefore, the negative correlation between language anxiety and the second language production may be indicative of problems at any of the three stages, thus, generating language anxiety accordingly. Meanwhile, the combined effects of language anxiety at these three stages may conversely influence the adult learners who have a smaller base of second language knowledge and have more difficulty demonstrating the knowledge that they do possess, thus causing new anxiety as a result.
2.1.2 Anxiety Caused by Strategy-Adopted Elements in ALA
Eysenck (1979) suggests that anxiety disrupts cognitive processing but that increased effort can compensate for the effects of anxiety on the quality of observed performance. Therefore, in SLA, adults always try to compensate for the negative role played by anxiety which are embodied in the adoption of various strategies. However, restricted by inadequacy of L2 knowledge and poor communicative competence, these strategies are usually abused thus negating the efforts, functioning conversely and decreasing the quality of performance. Eventually, these abuses of strategies result in increased anxiety.
Since strategies vary intra-individually, each of the learners has a whole host of possible ways to solve a particular problem from learning, production and communicating strategies in the process of both acquiring and using L2.
1) learning strategies
Learning strategies refer to the ways in which the learner consciously and subconsciously
processes second language input. Here, strategies as varied as pattern memorization, overgeneralization and intolerance of ambiguity have been treated under the general heading of learning strategies.
a. pattern memorization
Many learners develop formulas as a response to communicative pressure. That is, they memorize a number of ready-made expressions to compensate for lack of suffici ent L2 rules to construct creative speech, thus forming a kind of formulaic speech that has been observed to be very common in classroom learners.
It should be admitted that, in the early SLA, this strategy could reduce the learning burden while meeti ng the basic communicative need. The important point, however, is that it is restricted to the performance of a specific meaning in a certain context. Once the communicative need is increased, it is possible, therefore, that the pattern or formula is hardly unpacked so that valuable information can not be fed into the creative rule system for the immediate production and reception. Consequently, the learner will be at a loss to “what/how to say”and fail in communication, causing certain apprehension.
b. overgeneralization
The strategy of syntactic overgeneralization can be defined as "a process in which a language learner uses a syntactic rule of the target language inappropriately when he attempts to generate a novel target language utterance." (Taylor 1975 P.74) A learner relies on what he has already known when confronted with a new learning situation and as he learns more about the target language, his reliance on his native language will decrease, the errors attributable to the target language syntactic overgeneralization will increase. Noticeably, many errors attributed to the inherent difficulties and irregularities in the target language itself can be explained by the strategy of the target language syntactic overgeneralization. Thus, these errors, regardless of their sources, will be generated sooner or later. Once learners are aware of the occurrence of errors, they will inevitably produce anxiety.
c. intolerance of ambiguity
Intolerance of ambiguity is the tendency to perceive such situations o f novelty, complexity or insolubility as unacceptable. In fact, intolerance of ambiguity appears to be more experienced by adults than children who are found to be amazingly indifferent to contradictions. As for adults, their intellectual growth produces an awareness of ambiguities about language and heightens the need for resolution.
A general intolerance of ambiguity produces an acute awareness of the myriad differences in two languages for an adult performer so that the prospect of learning a second language suddenly becomes overwhelming, discouraging him from proceeding a step at a time as a child would do. Thus, the intolerance of ambiguity derived from an adult’s cognitive growth involves him in unacceptable, ambiguous situations with disappointment, depression or anxiety.
2) production strategies
Production strategies comprise the learner’s attempts to use the L2 knowledge they have
acquired in an efficient way. The example is the overuse of Monitor.
In SLA, difficulties arise when performers become over-concerned with correctness in communicative situations, trying to check their output against conscious rules at all times and such performers become the Monitor over-users. The overuse of Monitor reveals the user’s lack of faith in his acquired knowledge of the target language. In nature, it stems from a simple lack of acquisition.
In general, the overuse of Monitor results in hesitancy and subsequent difficulty in participating in conversation, thus creating the learner’s anxiety.
3) communication strategies (CSs)
CSs generally are devices employed by L2 learners when they encounter problems in L2 communication because their communicative ends have outrun their communicative means. Such devices can be shown as avoidance, repetition, lack of mimicry and literal translation.
a. avoidance
In communication, when a learner refuses to produce some necessary items he doesn't know or when he feels the likelihood of making errors, he will usually adopt avoidance as a strategy. In so doing, he is forced into coping with both the linguistic and communicative needs by other means, such as by circumlocution, which raises greater possibilities of making errors. After much avoidance, when these “evaders”find themselves in the situations where communication is required, they are less likely to do well than their more skilled counterparts so that new anxiety will be induced. This indicates that the more an anxious learner is, the more avoidance he will tend to adopt, thus conversely increasing his anxiety level.
b. repetition
In communication, sometimes, to avoid stopping the communication task, learners would rather carry on the communication task by repeating what they have said than simply take steps of avoidance.
Repetition is extensively used when a leaner fails to understand others' intended meaning or when he has neither sufficient linguistic knowledge nor general knowledge upon which to rely. He will just keep on repeating what he has said in the hope that the inter-locator would strive harder to work out his intended meaning.
Repetition enables learners to keep the communication channels open and to appear less embarrassed by avoiding the stopping of the conversation. However, similar to avoidance, which is not an efficient way to solve problems, repetition will eventually involve learners in the dilemma with further immediate information processing. Anxiety will thus be caused as a result of repetition in the communicative dilemma.
Noticeably, by analyzing Chinese learners’characteristics, it has been tentatively inferred that “repetition CSs are specific to Chinese learners or learners with the same characteristics.”(Chen Si Qing 1990 P.173)
c. lack of mimicry
In learning a new language, mimicry is a very important strategy for learners in gaining
accuracy of the target language. The one who becomes the best mimic learns most rapidly and achieves the best result.
It is, however, not easy to gain such accuracy. A learner must be willing to give himself whole-heartedly to the strenuous business of learning the new language and must throw off all restraint and self-consciousness as far as the making of strange sounds is concerned. This is particularly difficult for adult learners compared with children because of the deficiencies of flexibility of both ps ychomotor skills and language attitude. Consequently, it’s quite hard for them to accept the target language and its culture by pure imitation, supposing that they reject all that is familiar to them. Thus, the lack of mimicry will necessarily affect adults' achievement of accuracy in the target language and increase their anxiety without understanding the idiomatic use of the target language.
d. literal translation
The automatic habit of learning a new language is not as easy for adults as for children. Being haunted by the increased self-consciousness and greater sensitivity to fine discrimination of his own language, an adult will inevitably interpret the new language symbol through his accepted language symbols as a result of his experience. He is likely to develop such a strategy of literal translation by the practice of seeking word equivalents from his own language when he has established a direct connection between his experience and the new language.
Literal translation or “word equivalents”, which seems to save time at the beginning, really causes great inconvenience in the long run because the automatic processing is actually delayed when the learner adopt this strategy by means of finding corresponding items or word equivalents between the two language systems. It may confuse learners or even get them into such habits as to thwart any real control of the new language and as a result, affects the fluency of spontaneous communication. Also, it causes inaccuracy in the use of the target language so that the cultural knowledge could probably be ignored or abused due to the inappropriate blunt match between the two languages. In this sense, literal translation is also the potential of communication apprehension.
In conclusion, all of these above-mentioned strategies can be regarded as potential sources of anxiety in the different aspects in ALA, such as communication or situational apprehension. (see table 2.1)
2.1.3 Anxiety Caused by Self-Related Elements in ALA
The generation of anxiety is associated with the inference of self-related elements such as excessive self-evaluation, worry over potential failure and concern over the opinions of others. An anxious person thus has his attention divided between task-related and self-related cognition, making cognitive performance less efficient. This can also be used to explain the negative effects of self-related elements observed in language anxiety, which will be expounded in three aspects:
1) inhibition from language ego
As the very personal egoistic nature of SLA, language ego is defined as "the extent to which one’s self-concept is inextricably bound up in language." (Brown, 1991, P.77) In fact, the
difficulties for adults in learning a new language can to some extent be attributed to the language ego, as compared to children.
Sources of
anxiety
Types Causes Effects on SLA
Pattern
memorization
Formulaic speech Rote learning
Over-generalizat
ion
Inadequate L2 knowledge,
similarities between L1 & L2,
internal difficulties/ irregularities of
L2 itself
Generation of errors
Learning strategies
Intolerance of ambiguity
High level of dogmatism &
authoritarianism with growing
self-consciousness
Inattention to listening
comprehension,
decreased linguistic
input
Production strategies
Over-use of
Monitor
Over-concern with correctness of
linguistic form (self-consciousness)
Hesitancy in utterances,
low fluency in
communication Avoidance L1 influence, personality factors
Inaccuracy or
circumlocution in
expression including
greater possibilities of
making errors
Repetition
Low proficiency in L2, limited
linguistic knowledge, fear of
risk-taking
Only satisfying basic
commutative needs in
common phatic
communication, not
being available for
improved ends & some
difficult communicative
tasks
Lack of mimicry
Language ego due to inhibition,
growing self-consciousness,
insufficient linguistic exposure
Inaccuracy &
unidiomatic application
in the target language
Strategies
adopted in
ALA
Communi-
cation
Strategies
Literal Translation Over-concerns with discrimination
between two language systems,
analogy-orientated word equvivalents
Inaccuracy &
unidiomatic use of the
target language, causing
interruption/stop of
communication
when/where there is no
correlation between L1
& L2
Table 2.1 the mal-adoption of strategies as sources of anxiety in ALA
The child’s ego is dynamic, growing and flexible through to the age of puberty. Initial language acquisition takes place when the child is highly “centered”: he is not only egocentric at this time, but when faced with a problem he can focus on one dimension at a time. This lack of flexibility may well be “a necessity for language acquisition.”(Rosansky, 1975 P.96) As a result, the new language, at this stage, will not pose substantial threat or inhibition to the ego and
adaptation is made relatively easily. For this reason, young children are generally neither “aware”that they are acquiring a language, nor “aware” of societal values and attitudes placed on one language or another.
However, the simultaneous physical, emotional and cognitive changes of puberty give rise to a defensive mechanism in which the language ego becomes protective and defensive for the adults who cling to the security of the native language to protect their fragile ego. The language ego, which has now become part and parcel of self-identity, is threatened, and thus a context develops in which the grown-up learner will not willing literally to make a fool of himself in the trial-and-error struggle of speaking and understanding a foreign language. It is no wonder, then, that the acquisition of a new language is an enormous undertaking, especially for the adults who have grown comfortable and secure in their own identity and possess inhibitions which serve as a wall of defensive protection around the ego. Consequently, they will naturally suffer much more anxiety from the inhibition generated from the language ego.
2) obsession with excessive self-perception
Self-perception has been seen as "a critical factor in both language anxiety and communication apprehension." (Horwitz, 1986) It plays a key role in how learners approach the acquisition and use of a second language.
For adults, the normative properties of the age-status system permeate the self-perception process. That is, adults usually perceive themselves as being “on”or “off”time with regard to their life span. That causes them to examine and re-evaluate the generalized self-concept that they have established. Unfortunately, most adults come to believe that they have been “off”time and have fallen short of their goals and aspirations with the resultant decay of self-esteem that may prompt severe feelings of inadequacy and anxiety. With this resultant decay of self-esteem, some adult learners, no matter how competent their performances are, will not judge communication positively and thus are not reinforced in their skill levels. For these adults, a skill approach may increase anxiety because such an approach could place them in a situation where they feel continually evaluated negatively. Therefore, the significant effect of self-perception on language anxiety in ALA should be taken into account throughout all phases of language learning and performance.
On the other hand, adults typically perceive themselves as reasonably more intelligent, socially adept individuals in contrast with children in SLA. These assumptions are rarely challenged when communicating in a native language as it is usually not difficult to understand others or to make oneself understood. However, the situation of learning a foreign language for adults stands in marked contrast. At this time, complex and spontaneous mental operations are required in order to communicate and adults’communication attempts will be evaluated according to uncertain or even unknown linguistic and socio-cultural standards since the second language communication entails risk-taking and is necessarily problematic. Thus, they have the dual task not only of learning a second language but also of performing in it and further may have difficulty understanding others, thus causing a problem that is usually not common for native speakers. As a result, any performance
in L2 is likely to challenge an adult’s self-perception and leads to reticence, self-consciousness, or even anxiety.
Therefore, the adult’s self-esteem is vulnerable to the belief that the range of communicative choices and authenticity are restricted. The importance of the disparity between the true “self ”as known to the adult learner and the more limited self as can be presented at any moment in a foreign language, highlights the significance of the self-perception in ALA.
3) fear of negative evaluation
Foreign language anxiety seems to have certain characteristics common to adult learners, such as, high feelings of self-consciousness, fear of making mistakes and a strong desire to be perfect when speaking, thus inducing the fear that they will receive the negative evaluation from others including peers, instructors or society.
Fear of negative e valuation, defined as “apprehension about others’evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectation that others would evaluate oneself negatively.”(Watson & Friend, 1969), is actually itself an anxiety related to a foreign language learning. The intimate relationship between self-concept and self-expression makes this anxiety "distinct from other academic anxieties." (Schlenker & Leary, 1985)
Adults experience more of such apprehension because they can not represent themselves in a new language as fully as they can in their native language. Unlike children, who only focus on the purpose of communication, adults are involved rather than in linguistic form. Thus, they perceive themselves as less worthy than are others and perceive their communication as less effective than that of their peers or even expect continued failure no matter what feedback they actually receive. As a result, this increased self-focus leads to reduced attention to the audience and the environment, resulting in poorer speech performance.
Fear of negative evaluation, as a function of feeling conspicuously shown in stage fright or public anxiety, makes adult learners tend to perceive themselves as being highly focused. In fact, as anxiety, fear of negative evaluation is another indicator of excessive self-perception underlying self-related elements due to the growing self-consciousness of adults. In essence, it’s a kind of “by-product”of the conscious learning in SLA.
It is worth noting that, specific to adults, these self-related elements function negatively as both cause and effect in language anxiety. As a cause, anxiety is provoked by the excessive self-perception that leads to lowering of self-esteem. As an effect, fear of negative evaluation has a negative influence on adults’self-esteem, decreasing their self-confidence in SLA, thus inducing new higher anxiety.
2.2 Apprehensive Variables in EFL for Chinese Adults
In China, to learn a foreign language, besides sharing the existent difficulties and internal factors of learners that are common to adults above mentioned, Chinese adult learners encounter more difficulties, restricted by their natural conditions, special cultural background and distinctive personality characteristic s. Therefore, they are beset with a higher level of anxiety in EFL.
2.2.1 Anxiety Induced by Natural Conditions in EFL in China
It has been found that the problems caused by environmental factors, especially those that apparently limit the scope and quality of a second language learning include:
(a) the absence of peers who speak the language as natives;
(b) severely limited and often artificial conditions under which the language may be learned.
In China, these two problems appear to be more conspicuous i n EFL because of China’s natural conditions.
2.2.1.1 Natural Conditions Restricted to the Limits on Linguistic Exposure
In comparison with most learners of a second language, Chinese face more inconvenience or even difficulties related to their foreign l a nguage setting and formal instructional conditions, to which the effect of EFL is restricted.
First, in China, EFL is exposed to a foreign language environment rather than a second language one.
Learning a new language must be involved in several different types of a second language learning context. One context is technically referred to as the learning of a second language. It includes (a) learning within the culture of that second language (e.g. a Chinese learning English in the US) or (b) learning within one’s own native culture where the second language is an accepted lingua franca used for education, government, or business within the country (e.g. a Canadian learning French in Canada). Under such environments, the second language is the one that is learned in a location where it is typically used as the main vehicle of everyday communication for most people. Therefore, the learner of the second language is surrounded by stimulation, both linguistically and culturally in the target language and thus he has sufficient motivational and instructional objective advantages.
The environment of a second language is contrasted with another context of learning a foreign language—that is, learning a non-native language in one’s own culture with few immediate and widespread opportunities to use the language within that environment (e.g. a Chinese learning English in China). Since Chinese is the unique, official language in its monolingual setting, the environment for learning a new language in China like EFL thus is categorized as that of foreign language.
For EFL, such a monolingual setting of foreign language context produces diverse degrees of acculturation since Chinese people attempt to learn English for a variety of reasons. Some people learn English simply out of an interest in languages, ranging from passing curiosity to a technical linguistic fascination; others may acquire English in order to communicate with people in another country. However, most Chinese adults learn English only for a specific or func tional purpose, i.e. a foreign language requirement or a need to gain foreign knowledge in the field of specialization. The motivations towards learning English for them may be to further career opportunities, to get a better job or get a promotion, to pas s a required exam, to understand other subjects or decipher documents through the medium of English and so on.
On the whole, Chinese adult learners are motivated to learn English as a foreign language
mostly for some utilitarian reasons, which reflect the practical value or advantages of learning a new language. In other words, they are facilitated to learn English by instrumental orientation. Although instrumental motivation may be a powerful spur toward the second language proficiency and can provide a s trong drive for language mastery, anyway, it is purely self-orientated, and relatively only for a short-term learning, so that it can hardly excite the learner’s genuine interest in the target language. And what’s more, some knowledge such as cultural background will be consequently neglected.
In view of this, we can say, in China, it is possible for Chinese adults, to communicate or function normally without English as a foreign language, although it does provide advantages in educational advancement, work or social status. Besides the effects of instrumental orientation on Chinese learners, some unfavorable conditions are often inevitable in such a foreign language learning context, because English is not the only language medium used for communication in such a situation. Chinese adults, as foreign language learners, lack sufficient and authentic linguistic input and have been immersed in their own native language so that they have to go out of their ways to find stimulation or input in the target language. Thus, the total burden of providing a target language environment falls only onto the classroom, through the formal instruction dominated by a teacher, a rather artificial means. Under such a condition, Chinese learners have little choice but to fill the vacuum of English language knowledge with the structure of their first language.
Therefore, as what Dornyei (1994) claimed, foreign language learners have rarely sufficient experience with the target language community to have clearly articulated attitudes toward that community and they are therefore uncommitted to integrating with that group. In this sense, Chinese adult learners, though motivated instrumentally, can hardly devote themselves to learning the target language completely due to the lack of E nglish linguistic resources. With this failure of full assimilation into the target language and its culture, they find themselves in a dilemma of communication and anxiety will certainly be generated in EFL.
Second, in China, EFL is conducted through formal instruction rather than natural learning. The characteristics of formal instruction can be distinguished from natural learning in two features: organization of language exposure and feedback. That is, in formal situations, the rules of the language (whether phonological, syntactic or socio-linguistic) are exposed to the learner in a more or less orderly fashion, in extreme cases, one by one and there is an opportunity for trial and error and overt feedback to the learner. In informal situations, any encounter may potentially involve a combination of the rules of the language and feedback is less obvious, sometimes may even be quite absent.
However, formal instruction is only a crucial factor when it is the learner’s sole or major source of language experience. That is, when the learner is faced with a limited source of linguistic input, the force of formal instruction appears to be more overwhelming for some traditional formal learners.
As above-mentioned, as far as EFL in China is concerned, Chinese learners have to be involved in a situation of formal instruction restricted to their foreign language learning setting. In
such an environment, a Chinese teacher is usually posed in an extremely dominant part and attempts to affect the course of English learning, mainly by controlling the learner’s exposure to the target language. That results in the learners being aware of the significance of the English grammatical features and patterns, thus providing few opportunities for their practice of English communication.
Within this general framework, the greatest limitation of exposure to English language is the role that the conscious knowledge of rules seems to play in both the acquisition of and the conversational use of the target language. Meanwhile, under the control of the teaching programs designed purely for examinations, the English language input is simply restricted to the teacher’s relatively proficient speech and the less-than-proficient speech of other peers, together with a great amount of rules and patterns in the classroom. Consequently, Chinese learners tend to emphasize the cultivation of English linguistic knowledge rather than of communicative competence.
Hence, China’s formal instruction which particularly underlies the traditional teaching methods pays too much attention to the teacher’s dominant role and authority and more or less suppresses the learner’s active involvement in the learning process. Thus, Chinese adult learners are provided with less communicative experience from the classroom which is unlike communication in the natural environment of a natural acquisition. As a result, this formalized instruction becomes another potential of anxiety for Chinese adult learners in EFL.
2.2.1.2 Natural Conditions Restricted to the Deficiencies in Educational Situations
Under the influence of traditional teaching methodologies, there are still many deficiencies existing in the current educational teaching of English in China which constitute the potential of anxiety for Chinese adult learners in EFL. They include:
1) lopsided syllabus design
In China, confined by the effect of traditional instruction, the emphasis on both English teaching and learning has long been orientated towards academic achievements. That is, Chinese adult learners have been accustomed to coping with a series of English examinations, such as, NMET (National Matriculation English Test), TEM4/8 (Test for English Majors Band 4/8), CET4/6 (College English Test Band 4/6), EPT (English Proficiency Test), English tests for adult correspondence courses and English tests for promotion, etc.. Guided by this tendency, the syllabi of teaching English, especially in school or college are simply designed for academic purposes. As a result, the curriculums offered for Chinese learners center only on the linguistic knowledge of English itself, such as, vocabulary, grammar, syntax etc.. Under this influence, most adult learners are likely to be excellent in English writing competence because they have only been taught what will be examined. H owever, being able to recite rules does not guarantee a proficient use of the target language and they usually behave very poor in communication as a result.
Despite painstaking efforts on the part of both Chinese teachers and students to consciously focus on the structures, rules and vocabulary of the target language, a minimum ability to communicate through the target language still eludes most Chinese adult learners in EFL through
using traditional, formal methods. More seriously, in the extreme, it leads to the dogmatic learning, mechanical repetition or rote memorization so that greater possibilities of communication failure could thereby be generated.
2) Monotonous teaching methods
In China, in the light of diversified teaching methods abroad, educators attempt to introduce some new ways to modify teaching in English and pay more and more attention to the individual differences, such as affective factors in pedagogy. However, under the effect of traditional instruction, the teaching methods in China still need to be improved further in many respects, such as, the diversity of multifaceted teaching modes, the flexibility and vigorousness in teaching activities and the learner’s autonomy as a participant in learning.
In fact, English learning and teaching have long been sharply separated from each other in China and the teacher’s dominant role is exaggeratedly intensified in the classroom so that the negative effects resulting from this situation turn out to be the fact! Firstly, no matter how proficient an English teacher would be, the linguistic input from her/him is limited and could not possibly be completely authentic or sufficient. Then, with emphasis of the teacher’s authority, Chinese learners can hardly exercise their initiative in learning English with full play. Consequently, both their motivations toward learning English well and interest in furthering their knowledge linguistically and culturally are decreased accordingly. For this reason, most Chinese students are characterized as “we are wanted to learn English”instead of “we want to learn English.”Thirdly, in China, the teaching methods are so regulated and monotonous, teacher-to-learner, that the atmosphere in the classroom is very dull and serious. Under these circumstances, the learners often feel nervous or tense under great pressure in learning English in such a passive way.
Therefore, in order to develop comprehensive communication skills and create low-anxiety learning environments for Chinese adult learners, English teaching methods urgently need to be further improved.
2.2.2 Anxiety Induced by Empathic Capacity in EFL in China
Webster defines empathy as the “capacity for participation in another ’s feelings or ideas.”Empathy, like so many personality variables, is the process of “putting yourself into someone else’s shoes”, of reaching beyond the self, understanding and feeling what another person is understanding and feeling. Language is one of the primary empathizing.
In fact, communication requires a sophisticated degree of empathy and the concept of empathy—a willingness and capacity to identify with others, has been applied to the ability of second language learners to identify with the communicative behavior of users of the target language. In order to communicate effectively, one needs to be able to understand the others’affective and cognitive states. Communication would break down when false presuppositions or assumptions are made about the other person’s state. In practical communication, not only must learner-speakers correctly identify cognitive and affective sets in the listener, but also they must do so in a language in which they are insecure. Meanwhile, in order to make those assumptions
correctly they need to transcend their own ego boundaries, or using Guiora’s term, to “permeate”their ego boundaries so that they can send and receive messages clearly. In this sense, the problem
of empathy becomes more acute in SLA, especially in the communication in the target language.
The empathic capacity thus, is best regarded as “an essential factor in the overall ability to acquire a second language rather than simply in the ability to acquire an authentic pronunciation.” (Schumann 1975: 226) Learners with a high capacity of empathy, appreciating other people’s thoughts and feelings may perform better in at least one aspect of a foreign language, such as pronunciation. On the contrary, the learners with authoritarian dispositions do not seem to learn a foreign language as easily as those with less rigid personalities.
In China, the problem of empathy in EFL for adult learners seems to be more complicated due
to the monolingual exposure, deep-rooted cultural cultivation and introverted personality, which affect the empathic capacity of Chinese adults, thus leading to the raising of their anxiety levels.
2.2.2.1 Anomie Aroused by Language Shock and Cultural Shock
When acquiring a new language, people may find themselves distanced from their own language and culture and gradually become lost in the new language and its culture. Meanwhile, they may feel very confused, and even be afraid of too deep an involvement in both the target language and its culture in case it should lead to alienation from the familiar ways of their own communities. As a result, language shock and cultural shock will generate a feeling of uncertainty about one’s place and loyalties in a new situation, which is termed anomie.
In China, this kind of anomie is greatly intensified especially for Chinese adult learners in EFL because of the effects of language distance and cultural background.
1) language shock from language distance
Language shock refers to the fear of appearing comic, infantile and ridiculous and the loss of accuracy of expression and narcissistic gratification available with the native language. In fact, the differences between the structure of two languages are the chief sources of difficulty for foreign language learners. Anomie is usually provoked by the distance between the native language and the target language and certainly becomes an important factor in SLA.
As far as English and Chinese, the two non-cognate language systems, are concerned, Chinese
is quite distant from English. Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family whereas English belongs
to the Indo-European one. Chinese is a tonal language whereas English is an intonation one. Chinese words are written in characters, whereas English words are written by means of alphabetic letters and so on.
In EFL, although this great distance may reduce some difficulties by L1 interference resulted from the similarities between the two language systems, on the other hand, however, it induces language shock for the adults who are clearly aware of the great distance. Actually, the more the differences between these two language systems are, the more numerous errors Chinese learners could make. Therefore, these cross-linguistic differences in both typology and geneticality will necessarily raise great difficulties for Chinese adults, at the same time, inevitably provoke anxiety
like language shock in EFL.
语言焦虑对英语学习者的影响与对策 【摘要】语言焦虑是影响中小学生外语学习效果的一个重要情感因素，本文分析了国内外有关外语学习焦虑的主要研究成果，并以人本主义教育心理学理论为依据，针对心理因素引起的语言焦虑进行诱因分析，探讨了克服外语学习焦虑的有效对策。 【关键词】焦虑；英语学习；对策 一、引言 20世纪60年代以来，随着人本主义心理学的兴起和发展，语言教学中的情感问题越来越受到重视。在影响语言学习的情感因素中，语言焦虑被语言学家认为是作用于外语学习的诸多情感因素中最关键的心理变量之一，所谓焦虑，是指个体由于预感不能达到某种目标或克服某种障碍的威胁而导致的一种不安、恐惧的情绪状态，表现在心理上即一种失败感、挫折感、负疚感或自我怀疑。语言焦虑是语言学习者特有的不同于其他焦虑感的一种复杂的心理现象，由语言学习教程中的独特性引起，研究表明，焦虑对中小学生的英语学习和身心健康都有很大的负面影响，因此如何克服焦虑，从而使英语学习变得更为轻松和高效，使教和学更加和谐，是每一位英语教师亟待解决的问题。 二、语言焦虑对英语学习的影响 教育心理学的研究表明，焦虑对学习的影响是一个复杂的问题，一般认为，焦虑与学习效率的关系呈倒U形曲线，即中等程度的焦虑有助于提高学习效率，过低的焦虑水平使个体不能排除情境中无关因素的干扰，过高的焦虑则使个体注意变得狭窄，注意的转移力降低，在实际的第二语言学习得中，高倾向的焦虑感是大多数学习者常常经历的一种心理状态，它抑制着对二语的习得，因此有“焦虑与语言能力之间呈现负相关”的说法。它对学生的学习成绩、水平考试成绩、口头和书面表达能力、自信心以及自尊心都有很大的负面影响，严重影响到学生的身心健康，长期焦虑有可能造成学生注意力分散、健忘、反应迟钝、学习兴趣降低甚至自信心下降，使课堂语言训练产生抑制情绪，弱化学生参与课堂活动的主体能动性，导致最终的逃避行为。 三、造成语言焦虑的因素 1、社会因素 在我国过去和现在普遍存在着恐惧英语的现象，社会上各色各类的辅导班又强化了这种恐惧英语的现象，这种恐惧会使学习者还没有开始学就感到紧张、焦虑。 2、教师因素
外语听力焦虑影响因素及其应对策略 摘要外语听力焦虑对听力理解产生的负面影响已得到较多研 究证实。本文基于外语听力焦虑的相关研究，在听力焦虑影响因素的基础上探寻其应对策略，以期为我国听力教学的发展提供理论指导和实践启示。 关键词听力教学听力焦虑影响因素应对策略 foreign language listening comprehension anxiety: its influencing factors and relative coping strategies li shuqin[1], li jie[2] ([1] foreign language school of southwest university, chongqing 400715; [2] research institute of education, southwest university, chongqing 400715) abstract the negative influence of foreign language listening anxiety on listening comprehension has been verified by numerous research at home and abroad. based on the extant investigations, the present paper intends to summarize the related literatures and probe into the influencing factors that arouse listening anxiety as well as the coping strategies for alleviating students’anxiety. the purpose is to provide the theoretical instruction and
谈大学生英语课堂焦虑及其缓解(一) 论文关键词：英语课堂焦虑教师 论文摘要：大学生在英语课堂上的焦虑情绪在我国是非常普遍的现象，其对英语教学的效果有着极大的损害。本文分析了学生产生焦虑的主要原因并指出了行之有效的缓解方法，为提高英语课堂教学效果提供了有益的参考。 大概每一个曾经当过学生的人都有过这样类似的经历：当老师在讲台上讲课的时候，自己在讲台下不是全神贯注地听课，而是始终担心老师会突然地提问自己；当被老师提问或仅仅是起来读课文的时候，心跳会突然加剧，思维变得迟缓，语言也变得不连贯。其实每一位英语教师对于自己课堂上学生内心的焦虑都很清楚地看在眼里，只是大多数的老师都简单地把这种现象归因为学生能力的不足和自信心的不足，认为这种现象对于课堂教学没有太大的影响而缺乏足够的重视。其实，学生的焦虑会极大地影响他们听课的效果和语言学习的成绩以及他们在离开学校之后所能取得的成就。由此看来，焦虑不仅关系到学生眼前的学业成绩，还关系到他们性格的养成和一生的命运，作为教师，有责任缓解学生在课堂上所感受到的焦虑，促进他们的更好学习和发展。 （一）、焦虑的概念 《新牛津英语双解大词典》对于焦虑（anxiety）的定义为：“afeelingofworry,nervousness,orunease,typicallyaboutanimminenteventorsomethingwithanuncer tainoutcome”，即“忧虑、焦虑、紧张、焦灼不安，通常由即将到来的大事或不能确定后果的事件所引起。”从定义中我们可以看出，焦虑是一种主观的感受，而这种主观的感受是由外界的客观的环境或事件所导致的，就是说，焦虑必然有其产生的原因。就外语学习来说，焦虑有三种表现形式。首先是交流恐惧，这是由于作为一名外语学习者，完全地掌握和理解所学的外语几乎是不可能的，因此在交流过程中，学习者内心始终存在着一定程度的恐惧，担心交流会因为自身能力的不足而随时可能中断甚至彻底失败。其次是测试恐惧，这种焦虑是针对于教学过程中的测试所产生的。某些学生往往对自己有着不现实的要求，认为一旦在测试中表现得不够完美那就是一种失败；另外一些学生则是由于对所学知识掌握不够熟练所产生的对于测试的恐惧。第三种焦虑是对否定评价的恐惧。这里的否定评价既包括对学生学业表现的评价，也包括对其个人本身的评价，而评价的基础则都是其在外语学习中的表现。由于大多数外语学习者不能像使用自己母语一样用英语流利地表达自己的思想，这就使得他们在外语学习中所感受到的焦虑要远大于其它学科。 （二）、焦虑对外语学习的影响 美国语言学家奥克斯福特通过调查发现有焦虑情绪的学生往往存在如下的特点：回避（逃课、上课迟到、不完成作业、课堂表现不积极、甚至不能回答最简单的问题）；外在行为（坐立不安、玩弄头发或衣服、说话结巴、经过反复重复也不能正确地发音）；外在症状（抱怨头痛、肌肉紧张、感觉身体某部位莫名的不适）；其它表现（过度用功、完美主义、社交恐惧、过度自我批评，缺乏自信等）。 （三）、导致焦虑的原因 英语课堂上导致学生产生焦虑的原因大都与授课教师有关，下面我们将详细地讨论这些因素以探索解决的途径。 首先，教师所运用的语言。英语教师在课堂上所运用的语言其实就是学生学习英语的输入语言。不管是语言学的理论还是外语教学的实践都表明，输入语言对于语言学习来说是至关重要的。在这里，输入语言指的就是学生在课堂上所听到的教师用于授课的语言，因此，教师决定了学生将处于何种类型的输入语言环境之中。不同的教学理论对于教师所应使用的输入语言的要求是不同的：结构主义教学论认为外语教师应当尽可能多地处于对话与句型练习之中以帮助他们养成良好的习惯；认知主义教学论认为学习者的语法系统应当由其本身内在的
教学计划 1、先从音标开始，学好音标。再慢慢地从读、写、听、说四个方面去抓，可以边学语法边练习。 2、授课最重视的步骤是，大声朗读和各种背诵。大声朗读是学好英语的关键，这对于培养语感是很有帮助的。关于背诵，看学习的进度来安排，基本上是单词、词组、句子、短文……这样循序渐进的。 3、每次课结束都会留作业，刚开始基本上是背诵的作业。在学到差不多的时候，会布置一些翻译练习或者是短文阅读训练。 4、在课堂上会穿插一些英语口语的练习，现在不是要应试教育，所以更需要学以致用。 教学步骤 一、做测试卷，看学员基础 通过测试卷，看大概要从什么等级开始教起。 二、学习音标，同时背诵单词 音标是学习英语的关键，一共学习的国际音标有48个。在教音标的同时，背诵部分单词，打好基础。每次上课都会需要背诵单词，听写。【期间会使用一本初中英语单词教科书，主要是用来熟悉音标，以及之后每次课堂的单词背诵。】 三、学习语法，跟上“读”和“说” 在单词基础慢慢打稳的前提下，开始学习语法，配套学习一些简单句和复杂句。通过课堂练习，如翻译题，选择题等来巩固语法。 四、练习如何写 虽然学员的要求是“看到会说，认得出来”，但在实际教学中，如何写也是需要注意的。写这方面的锻炼会在语法教学基本结束的时候，再做要求。 五、在课堂之外，学员可以通过以下四点来帮助促进学习英语。 1、大声朗读。在学习了新的只是之后，一定要注意大声朗读，帮助记忆。 2、多听。在日常生活中，要注意听英语，不管是欧美歌曲还是欧美电视剧电影都可以，
这不仅能培养学习英语的兴趣，还可以增强语感的培养。 3、多说。这对于一个初学者来说，是比较困难的，但随着学习的深入，这个练习也是不能缺少的。 4、要对英语一直保持着新鲜感，这样才能越学越有感觉，越学越好。
英语课堂教学案例分析 用真实的语境，多样的评价鼓励孩子听说英语 -- 英语课堂教学案例分析 [引言]： 《英语课程标准》提出学生的发展是英语课程的出发点和归宿。英语课程在目标设定、教学过程、课程评价和教学资源的开发等方面都突出以学生为主体，以真实情景下运用英语交流为目的的思想。教师应在教学过程中有意识地加以适当的引导，搜集现实中真实的情景，激发学生使用英语解决问题的兴趣，培养学生通过听、读、说、写四方面来提高语言综合运用的能力。并且通过各种评价手段激发学生有意识有目的地去听、说。 [具体过程]： 这学期，有一次开放日活动。我教的是3B的family members。为了让孩子和家长都感兴趣，并且深刻地记下这节有意义的课。我请孩子事先带了一些家人的照片，准备课上时请同学上来阐述。后来，我发现，将他们家人的照片剪切下来，放在电脑上展示，会不会更容易学习和使用新句型呢？我按照这样的思路重新设计并上了一节开放课。 师生问候完毕，我用角色扮演的方式快速回顾了上节课的八个家庭成员和问句Who’s he? 和Who’s she? 同学们一起问问题，传到HELEN AND MIKE的头饰的同学回答He’s/She’s… 紧接着，我就出示了一张陌生老爷爷的照片，一个大问号在旁边，我问：wh o’s he?没等学生回答，我就问Is he your grandfather?慢慢重复了问题两遍。然后说：Excuse me,…, Is he your grandfather?学生很自然地回答我Yes,he is./ No, he isn’t.我请回答不是的小朋友学着老师的样子来问一问你认为是知道答案的同学。学生们顿时兴奋起来，一个问一个，问到了每个角落的孩子。当听到No的时候，不但问的同学失望了，听的同学也一阵失望。同时，又很期待地问下一个同学。当听到期盼已久的yes时，每个孩子都很开心。 一张照片还不过瘾，我又趁势出示了几张处理过的照片和需要用到的句型，请同学们小组问答练习。对于真实的问题，孩子们一问一答，饶有兴趣。 真实，使得这节课异常地热闹。孩子们的好奇，孩子们的表现欲，一下子涌了出来。但是，课堂是需要纪律来维持的。在自由对话的过程中，有的孩子沉浸在自己的讨论中，甚至不愿去倾听别人的对话，这时候，彩色粉笔帮了我的忙。 T: OK.Now, let’s have a look. If you speck good enough, red star; listen and respect enough, blue star; always put up hands, green sta r!(发言好，红星一颗；会听的，蓝星一颗；常举手，绿星一颗。比一比，哪一组五彩星最多！) …… T: group 1, you can listen, blue star for you. 如此下来，孩子们不但能够兴趣饱满地投入到课堂活动中，并且能够努力去积极思考发言，并仔细听他人的对话。我惊喜地发现，孩子们不但能静下心来听
中学生英语学习焦虑研究 【摘要】：学习一门外语是一项具有挑战性的任务。二语习得理论中一个主要的问题是为什么一些人往往取得比他人更好的成果。这其中有很多因素相互作用决定学习结果，包括个体的不同，例如认知能力、个性、学习风格、学习态度、动机和焦虑。在这些因素中，学生的语言学习焦虑对学生学习成就的影响起到了决定性的作用。为了清楚地了解高中生的英语学习焦虑情况，该研究对山西现代双语学校高一3个班级的120名学生进行了认真研究。为了获取一些有见解的信息，该研究将对以下几个问题进行研究：（1）高中生整体的焦虑情况；（2）语言焦虑和学习成绩的相互关系；（3）男女生焦虑的异同；（4）高水平英语学习者与低水平英语学习者的差异。该研究采用了霍维茨外语焦虑测量表，对高一年级的120个研究对象进行了问卷调查。此外，该研究采用期中考试成绩对学生的英语成绩做了整体的评估。本次研究结果表明：（1）高中生整体的焦虑情况比以前有所好转,在焦虑的类别上学生并没有表现出明显的差异；（2）焦虑和成绩呈显著的负相关；（3）男生比女生更焦虑；（4）高水平英语学习者和低水平英语学习者的焦虑在整体上有显著的差异，具体表现在交际焦虑和考试焦虑。基于本次研究，本文作者提出了一些帮助学生减少焦虑的措施：（1）首先应该意识到外语学习焦虑的存在并正视该问题；（2）帮助学生树立正确的语言学习态度；（3）帮助学生树立明确的学习目标；（4）为学生营造轻松的学习氛围。【关键词】：英语学习焦虑相关度
熟练英语成绩情感 【学位授予单位】：山西财经大学 【学位级别】：硕士 【学位授予年份】：2013 【分类号】：G633.41 【目录】：Abstract6-8摘要8-10ChapterOneIntroduction10-141.1Researchbackground10-121.2Purpo seandsignificanceofthestudy12-131.3Frameworkofpaper13-14ChapterTw oLiteratureReview14-272.1Definitionsoflanguagelearninganxiety14-152. 2Classificationoflanguagelearninganxiety15-172.3Developmentofresearc honlanguagelearninganxiety17-212.4SourcesofForeignLanguageAnxiety 21-252.5Theoreticalfoundationofthestudy252.6Researchquestionsofthestu dy25-27ChapterThreeResearchMethodology27-303.1Subjects273.2Instru ments27-293.3Datacollectionanddataanalysis29-30ChapterFourResultsan dDiscussion30-414.1Generallanguagelearninganxietystateofhighschoolst udents30-344.2RelationshipbetweenlanguagelearninganxietyandEnglisha chievement34-364.3Effectofgenderonstudents’languagelearninganxiety36-374.4Differencesinlanguagelearninganxietybe tweenhighproficiencylevelandlowproficiencylevelstudents37-41ChapterF
龙源期刊网 https://www.doczj.com/doc/004201548.html, 中学生英语学习焦虑的成因及对策 作者：闵梦怡 来源：《天津教育·下》2018年第02期 英语学习过程是个复杂的过程，不仅受语言学本身特点的影响，还受一些情感方面的影响，如态度、动机、焦虑等因素。其中，焦虑在所有情感因素中被看作是英语学习中最重要的因素之一，引起了人们的进一步研究和讨论。 焦虑的概念 英语学习焦虑是指学习者因英语学习过程的独特性而产生的一种与课堂英语学习相关的自我知觉、信念、情感和行为的情结（Hoitz， Howitz&Cope， 1986：128）主要是表现出不安、紧张、排斥等消极情绪。学生的学习教材难度、学生的学习能力和学生的焦虑水平等多方面因素决定了其对学生是起促进作用还是抑制作用。过高的焦虑程度与过低的焦虑程度都是不利于英语学习的。 英语学习焦虑的原因 本文归纳出导致中学生英语学习焦虑的主要成因。其原因分为内源性因素和外源性因素： 内源性因素 内源性因素，即影响学习者内在自尊和价值观的各种因素，主要来源于學习者个体内部，主要包活： （ 1 ）学生的性格 学生的性格对英语学习有一定的影响。根据心理学家的研究，外向的学生在英语学习中更加主动、积极，焦虑的负面影响也会大大减少。而内向的学生通常比较安静，更加敏感，害怕与他人交流，从而容易产生焦虑情绪。 （ 2 ）学生的兴趣 兴趣在英语学习中起到了很重要的作用。然而，部分同学对英语学习积极性不高，在英语课堂上不愿意主动参与，课后也不会将精力放在英语学习上面，一上英语课就会觉得烦躁，因而会认为英语学习是一种负担，从而容易产生焦虑情绪。 （ 3 ）学生过去的英语学习经历
成人零基础学英语方法 1、建议选择新概念，这是一套很经典的教材，从易到难，遵循了难度逐渐增加的原则、 2、你可以以新概念作为基本学习材料，然后逐渐接触成考英语的真题，通过真题更好更直接的了解成考英语。 3、针对于听说，你可以在前期拿新概念英语作为精听材料，在接触成考英语以后以真题听力作为听力材料;在整个学习英语的过程中，听说读写是贯穿在一起的，比如在学习新概念的时候，你就需要借助于新概念去分别联系听说读写;关于翻译的环节在你复习初期不建议学习，因为在没有掌握很多语法知识的情况下，可能翻译出来的会是中式英语。 4、建议报一个网络课程进行学习，这样学习比较有指导性。还有在整个学习过程中要注意做好学习笔记，要经常温习。 互联网上大部分的网页都是使用英语。每天都在传播着无限的信息，其中一些要求读者会英语才能理解。运用英语与来自世界各地的人在聊天室里交谈，发邮件和享受其他服务。 提升你的职业生涯 如果你想在商场一展拳脚，英语绝对是一件制胜法宝。我们都要同那些说英语国家互通贸易，因此英语也作为一种通用语言而被大部分国家使用。墨西哥的工程师通过英语从他的中国朋友那里得到了技术帮助，这种事情现在已经很普遍了。如果你精通英语，那么你就可以从美国的技术人员和专家那里得到对公司有益的支持。你也可以与那些把英语作为商业语言的国家做生意。现在很多公司都把员工的英语水平作为薪水的支付标准。即使在你自己的国家，英语也能帮助你获得更好的待遇。 求职
学习英语最重要的始终是运用，因此，听力和口语是非常重要的! 1)可以便利地进行文字学习、复读、听写、配音、角色扮演。 2)可以逐段学习记录任意多的AB段，需要的时候，调出来，自 动定位。 3)可以逐句学习可以对每一句进行复读、听写、配音、角色扮演。可以抽取生词和重点等进行复习和测试。 4)配音便利，无限时长可以对任意片断进行配音，保存为MP3。 这样，你就可以自由地进行口语练习了! 猜您感兴趣：
英语课堂教学的真实性 孙立华 【提要】: 真实性问题一直是外语教学界探讨的重要问题。随着英语教学法,特别是交际法的不断发展,英语课堂教学的真实性问题已经远非使用原版教材那么简单。真实性不是抽象的,也不是绝对的。相反,真实性是具体的,并涵盖许多不同的方面。本文所探讨的真实性问题,涉及的将不仅仅是语言教材,还包括课堂活动、课堂环境等诸方面。从多个层面、多个视角,结合语言学习和语言运用来分析、审视英语教学中的真实性问题,将帮助我们更好地理解外语教学的本质。 对于英语教学中真实性问题的讨论始于上世纪70年代,其焦点主要是语言材料和教材的真实性。之后随着交际法在课堂教学中的推广和跨文化研究的发展,真实性问题的研究也进一步深入,从语言材料拓展到了课堂活动、交际情景等方面。 一、语言材料真实性的理解 语言材料的真实性是指没有被简化或改动过的蕴涵真实信息的日常语言,是来源于现实生活的原始材料。语言材料的真实性是交际法教学的一项要求。传统外语教学中根据词汇和语法的要求人为编造的语言材料脱离现实生活,缺乏交际性,不利于培养学生在真实环境中的语言交流能力。真实的材料可以让学生接触真实自然的语言,了解交际话语和背景文化,并能在课堂活动和社会交际之间建立联系,使学生领会到所学习的语言材料就是现实生活中可能发生的语言交际。真实的材料是实际交际活动的材料,而不是专门为语言教学准备的材料。 在外语教学中,真实的语言材料具有不可比拟的优势:规范的用法和表达为外语学习提供了范例;话题和日常生活紧密联系,学生不仅学习西方的语言,还了解西方的文化、习俗和思维方式,使学习的过程更生动有趣,学习的内容更深刻,从而进一步激发学生学习的动机。 在教学实践中,我们一方面要选择真实的材料激发学生的兴趣,另一方面又要考虑学生的语言水平。例如,初学者在词汇量和语法结构上都会遇到障碍。教师可以让他们接触一些简单的对话等。考虑到初学者的实际水平,我们还不妨使用一些经过加工的材料,在真实、可信的基础上,删除一些难句和生词,更换某些词语,甚至在结构上作一些改动。我们也可以根据真实情景编制材料---这些材料或出于以英语为母语的人之手,或出于熟悉英语社会文化的人之手,虽然是虚构的,但却能符合真实情景。真实性不是抽象的,而是具体的、相对的,涵盖不同的方面,涉及不同的程度,并取决于学习对象和学习场合等诸多因素。有时出于教学的需要,我们只能侧重其中的一个方面。但过于绝对化会使我们寸步难行。
焦虑情绪对英语口语学习效果的影响探究 过多的焦虑情绪阻碍了学生口语能力的提高，教师可以通过引导学生正确对待口语练习中出现的困难和障碍来改善学习效果。文章作者通过调查研究，浅谈学生英语口语学习焦虑产生的原因，并提出了相应的解决措施。 有研究表明，焦虑对英语语言学习会产生阻碍或者促进作用。高职学生作为特殊的学习群体，他们具有不同于其他群体的特征，大部分学生由于在中学阶段不太成功的学习体验，对自身的英语学习能力持怀疑态度，甚至失去信心。学生在英语学习的过程中，由于多种原因，产生过度的焦虑情绪，这会阻碍英语学习，尤其是英语口语学习。在本文中我将以所教授的四川卫生康复职业学院2016级护理双语班英语口语课为例，谈谈焦虑对英语口语学习效果带来的影响的分析。 一、调查分析 我利用问卷调查和当面采访两种方式对2016级护理双语班学生进行调查。根据调查和采访结果显示，大多数的学生在英语口语方面都存在着不同程度的焦虑。经过调查，我发现65%以上的学生都害怕在课堂上发言时犯错误。而根据我对学生课堂表现的观察，我还发现当提问时，有的学生如果在不单独回答问题时，会很流利和顺畅地表达自己，但是一旦在全班面前单独回答问题时，就会脸红、声音发抖、语速变快、声音变调，不敢和教师有目光接触。另外，有将近50%的学生害怕上英语口语课的时候被叫起来回答问题，即使是在小组讨论中他们也通常很被动地参与其中，甚至只是做一名旁观者。 很多研究者发现，英语学习，尤其是课堂上的英语学习，异常地让人感到紧张。并且在外语学习的听说读写四种技能培训中，焦虑在口语方面的表现尤为突出。心情焦虑的学习者在口头表达上明显不如心情轻松的学习者，他们发言短，而且条理不清。焦虑情绪严重的学习者在英语口语课堂上不敢开口说英语，特别是当着教师和同学的面说英语会感觉异常紧张，害怕出错，回避回答问题。 二、学生英语口语学习焦虑产生的原因 （1）口语练习机会很少，缺乏英语听说环境。由于学生每周英语课时非常少，且学生在课后由于缺乏英语语言环境，很难坚持进行练习，自然英语能力提高较慢。大部分学生只是在课堂上进行练习，焦虑情绪很严重。 （2）怕出错和被笑话。根据前文分析，很多学生在语言学习的过程中，怕出错而被别人嘲笑，所以就拒绝开口说英语。这样由于缺乏练习，口语能力就得不到提高，甚至退化，结果就是更不敢开口说英语。根据观察，我发现英语口语学习中，越不怕“丢脸”的学生学习得越好，进步越快。 （3）学习气氛不够积极向上。班级学习气氛不够浓厚。认真学习的学生并没有带动整个班级向上，却可能被其他同学影响而失去学习的强大动力。
摘要目前，大学英语教育在我国受到了很大的重视，大学生的心理因素值得进一步研究。第二语言研究发现，归因是影响第二语言学习的一个重要因素，它能对学习者的动机产生积极或消极的影响。本文是关于归因训练对大学生英语听力归因风格、英语听力焦虑和英语听力成绩关系的干预研究，探讨能否通过归因训练降低学生在英语听力中产生的焦虑，提高大学生的英语听力水平。 关键词归因训练英语听力听力焦虑 The Influence of Attributional Training on English Lis-tening Anxiety//Yang Fangqing Abstract At present,college English education is being consi-dered more important than ever before,it is very necessary to make a further survey on college students'psychological aspects. Second language research indicates that attribution is one of the important factors influencing second language learning,for it may have positive or negative influence on learners'motivat-ion.This paper is an interference study of attributional training to students'listening attributional styles,English listening anxiety and English listening achievements in college.It tries to discuss whether attributional training can reduce college students'list-ening anxiety,so as to improve their listening level. Key words attributional training;English listening;listening anxiety Author's address School of Foreign Languages,Xiangfan Univ-ersity,441053,Xiangyang,Hubei,China 1引言 归因在心理学和教育学领域已经被广泛研究。作为消极情感因素之一的焦虑，第二语言研究者越来越关注它。听力就被证明是最容易引起焦虑的教学活动(Horwitz,&Cope, 1986)。根据Scarcella&Oxford(1992)的研究，当学生感到他们听的内容很难或者对所听内容话题不熟悉时就会产生焦虑。在国内外，许多专家学者通过论证得出学生存在英语听力焦虑的结论(M acIntyre and Gardner,1989;余心乐,1999，引自杨晋，2000；周丹丹，2003)。众所周知，在近几年的大学英语教学改革中，英语听力的地位越来越凸显，尤其是对于大学英语四六级机考来说，更是重中之重。作为大学英语教师有义务认真研究学生的听力焦虑，帮助他们提高英语听力水平。本文探讨通过归因训练能否降低大学生英语听力焦虑，能否提高他们的英语听力水平。 2归因理论及归因训练 归因是个体对自己或他人的行为的原因加以解释和推测的过程(Biddle,1993)。内部原因包括能力和努力归因，外部原因包括运气和任务难度。 归因训练是改变人们对于成功失败为什么发生的原因的理解，提高动机。归因训练可以鼓励学生将失败归因于可控因素，比如努力不够或者是缺乏有效的学习策略，这样学生才有动力努力学习。归因训练的目标之一就是让学生更专注于学习任务而不是因为害怕而分散精力；其次是鼓励学生认真分析失败的原因而不是轻易放弃学习；第三个目标让学生将失败归因于努力不够而不是智力或能力不强。3研究方法 被试是某高校市场营销专业大二的学生，67名学生来自作者所教班级（1班和2班）。在进行实验前，所有的学生都进行了英语听力理解测试。在接受训练前，两个班所有被试完成归因信念、听力焦虑量表。根据t检验，两个班的听力成绩并不呈显著性差异。 4数据分析 4.1两个班学生的归因情况 一班学生8项归因的描述统计数据显示归因信念的平均值分布在7.05到11.50之间。运气—成功归因的平均值最高，接下来分别是能力—失败归因、运气—失败归因、背景—失败归因、努力—成功归因、努力—失败归因、能力—成功归因以及背景—成功归因。通过这些数据，我们可以发现这些学生的归因属于非适应性归因，因此有必要对他们进行归因训练。 二班学生8项归因的描述统计数据显示归因信念的平均值分布在6.45和11.39之间。努力—成功归因的平均值最高，接下来的排列是努力—失败归因、能力—成功归因、能力—失败归因、背景—失败归因、运气—成功归因和背景—成功归因。这个班学生的归因属于积极归因。 4.2听力水平和听力焦虑前测数据 Sig.(2-tailed)为双尾t检验的显著性概率，数据中关于 中图分类号：G642.0文献标识码：A文章编号：1672-7894（2011）35-0108-02 108
关于成年人自学英语的九点建议 文中涉及到的软件和教材，我无法保证是最好，只能说明是本人孤陋寡闻，没有用过更好的产品。同理，建议也不见得科学有效，但我会尽量给出解释，有无参考价值，请自行判断取舍。 1、一定要有教材 这是我浪费了最初三个多月时间才意识到的。我们成年人不仅在大脑上与儿童（12岁以下）有很大差异，而且也不可能有儿童的外语环境，用十多年时间去自然习得英语，所以必须要有教材。一套好的教材，由浅入深、循序渐进地引导你进入英语的世界，你根本不用担心怎么去听说读写，跟着教材走就可以了。我用的英语教材是《新概念英语-新版》（《New Concept English - New Edition》），口语教材是《走遍美国-全新版》（《Family Album U.S.A》）。建议自学者有一定基础后，再去学口语。因为在口语里，语速很快，什么同化、连读、省音和弱读很多，并且不同的人（特别是老人和小孩）发音差异很大。如果没有掌握相当数量单词的标准发音（播音员那种）和常用的句型、短语，贸然去学口语难度就很大了。至少我是在《新概》第三册快学完时，才同时学口语教材，就很容易上手了。 2、背课文是效率最高的学习方式 学英语，离不开背。背单词难度最大，通常一个单词有好几种词性，每个词性又有好几种意思。背10个单词，远不如背由20个单词组成的1个句子容易。而背10个独立的句子，不如背由20个句子组成的课文方便。所以从总体的记忆量来看，反而是背课文效率最高了。并且我们平时说话的内容也是上下文相关，这个与课文模式很接近。结论：背课文不论在实用性，还是记忆的效率性上，都是最佳的（而且《新概念》里的课文都是精心设计，同一种意思，多种句型表达；相似单词的典型区别用法；相同单词的不同用法；等等都非常自然地嵌合在课文中）。 我背课文的方式是默写。同一篇课文，先用《大口啃》按“记忆曲线”啃6遍以上（啃第1遍时，如遇到不能理解的句型，就查看教材对应的《自学导读》，基本上能解决我的疑惑），然后开始尝试默写课文到在windows自带的《记事本》里，最后将《记事本》里的课文复制粘贴至微软的《word》文档。《word》会用红色波浪线标出你拼写错误的单词，也能快速统计出你的单词数量（用于写课文摘要或作文）。不建议直接默写在《word》里，因为她有时会自动修正你的拼写错误，不利于掌握单词的拼写。 3、背单词的发音、练拼写 背单词没有必要，但背单词的发音，绝对有必要。英语是拼音文字，如果你能正确地发音，拼写出该单词也就八九不离十了，考虑到在英语国家，还是有文盲存在（就是那种能听说，但无法读写的人），那么背发音和练拼写还是要放在一起强化练习的。记住：能听就代表能说，会拼写就意味可以阅读和写作，所以，听、说、读、写最基础的就是发音。 我是用《轻轻松松背单词》来背发音和练拼写的。虽然《大口啃》里也有单词的发音，但是效率太低，因为有时一篇课文里只有十几个单词的发音需要练习，没有必要去啃整篇课文，再说在课文里找那几个单词也麻烦。《轻轻松松背单词》就提供了很好的背单词发音和拼写的功能（当然单词的意思还是放到句子或课文中去理解），对于经常拼错的单词，还可以用“词库维护”的“添库”功能，自已建个库，然后有针对性地强化练习。 /*这里建议《轻轻松松背单词》的作者蒋刚先生，继续完善《轻轻》软件，该软件最大的遗憾是发音不够清楚，而背发音最关键的就是要有清晰发音，单独背单词的发音对英语学习的效率提升有很大的帮助。如果允许的话，请在增加清晰男音的基础上，考虑加入清晰的女音，这样可使听力的适用性更广，在功能上可以选择听男音还是女音或随机音。最后建议记录每个单词的正确和错误拼写次数，方便用户能自动快速定位出那些错误率高的单词。*/ 4、预习
英语课堂教学中真实语境的创设 一、前言 不少教师认为我国的英语教学没有真实语境，课堂是“去语境化”的，教学中注重知识、忽略运用的现象长期存在，结果学生不能在真实情境中运用所学语言。只有具有真实语境的英语课堂教学才能使学生的学习具有心理真实度。学生参与有心理真实度的活动，使他们有机会根据自己的需要有目的、有意义地使用语言，会引起他们的兴趣，有助于解决知识惰性问题（冀小婷，柯津云，2010）。[1] 教师应该将真实语境贯穿英语课堂教学的始终，使学习过程真实化，提高教学有效性，培养运用语言的能力。 二、真实语境的创设 语言学习是生活的一部分，英语教学不能脱离生活和运用。英语课堂教学中的真实语境应以行为目标有效激发学生的学习动机，以生活作为教学资源，在相对真实的情境中学习语言，在真实的活动、任务中运用语言。 1. 制订真实的行为目标 侧重知识的教学目标往往罗列课堂要学习的词汇和句型，不强调在生活中的运用。在英语课堂教学中创设真实语境的前提是制订真实的学习行为目标，即学生要运用什么知识完成什么任务。合理的学习行为目标应符合学生的生活实际，满足他们运用语言的需求，明确在学习后应能做到的事情。以《牛津初中英语》
（译林版，下同）8B Unit 4中的“Integrated skills”教学为例，该课是综合技能课，围绕组织义演的话题训练学生的听力与口语。考虑到组织义演有很强的实践性，学生不仅要学习与组织义演有关的语言知识，也应该能把这些知识真正运用到生活中去。为此，笔者制定的学生行为目标为：听北京阳光中学学生讨论组织义演的会议录音，获取相关信息，完成会议记录；了解组织义演的工作（design a poster, set up the stage, organize a play, choose a host …）；各小组选择一家要捐款的慈善机构并说明理由，召开会议，讨论并记录义演的组织、分工。 课堂教学表明，真实的学习行为目标激发了学生学习的动机，学生在阐述或倾听选择慈善机构的理由中升华了情感，在真实的讨论中体验到(如何组织一次慈善义演，学习内容得到实际的运用。有真实行为目标的课堂里，学生获得)用英语解决问题的成功，有效地训练了听力和口语能力。 2. 采用真实的语言素材 教师应努力开拓教学资源，多采用生活中的素材作为语料。生活化的语料可以为语言学习提供真实语境，激发学生兴趣，引导学生依据语境运用语言（冒晓飞，2008）。[2] 真实的语言素材能迅速拉近师生之间的距离，给学生提供体验、运用语言的机会。教师可根据学习内容挑选学生经历的活动、熟悉的话题或社会事件作为课堂活动的素材。真实的语言素材包括两种：现实生活中存在的原汁原味的语篇，如英文歌曲、电影、广告、新闻、说明
焦虑对学生英语学习的影响(一) 【摘要】焦虑是影响学生学习效果的情感因素之一。焦虑的产生与人们所感受到的对其自我或自尊的威胁有关，为此本文提出了如何在教学中克服学生的焦虑情绪，发挥师生的积极作用，提高学习效率。 【关键词】焦虑；英语学习；积极作用著名教育家赞科夫指出：“教学法一旦触及学生的情感和意志领域，触及学生的精神需要，这种教学就能发挥高度的作用。”在英语学习中，情感因素的研究价值不亚于认识因素的价值，这是一个不言自明的现象。焦虑是影响学生学习效果的情感因素之一，我们每个人都有焦虑的体验。焦虑被认为可能是最妨碍学习过程的情感因素，因为它与不安、失意、自我怀疑、忧虑、紧张甚至绝望等不良感觉有关。（Arnold,1999:8）美国教育家布鲁姆说过：“一个带着积极情感学习课程的学生，应该比那些缺乏热情、乐趣或兴趣的学生，或者比那些对学习材料感到焦虑或恐惧的学生学习的更轻松、迅速。”（张晓燕，2001）但一些研究指出：在小学阶段，焦虑一般抑制了学生的学业成绩；而到了中学阶段，焦虑的积极作用往往超过了它的破坏作用，在焦虑水平增加或学业成就的下降之间出现负相关；到了大学阶段，焦虑与学业成就普遍为弱的负相关或零相关，或者为他们的正相关所取代了，从这一研究成果我们不难看出焦虑对学习的影响与认识水平有一定的关系。 英语学习中的焦虑主要指学习者需要用英语进行表达时所产生的恐惧或不安心理。焦虑的产生与人们所感受到的对其自我或自尊的威胁有关，英语学习正是一个充满自我威胁与挑战因素，存在容易引起焦虑的特殊情境：操作一种新的语言容易出错，并且这种活动过程通常暴露在他人评价之下，因此学习者常处于担心遭到否定的困忧之中。英语学习焦虑就是由外语学习中自我威胁引起的各种不愉快情感反应和心理不适的集合。学习任务难度太大，担心出错或否定评价均可导致焦虑。焦虑给语言学习造成恶性循环，导致紧张和害怕，从而进一步增加了焦虑的可能性。那么焦虑的表现形式和分类是如何的呢？ 焦虑的表现形式因人而不同：有的人脸红心跳，有的人浑身冒汗，更有甚者全身发抖甚至说话结巴，词不达意。有的人大小便频率增加，皮肤或手心出汗，面色木然或苍白，有的坐卧不宁，惶惶不安。 Arnold(1996:66)书中总结出的语言焦虑迹象大体有四类：①回避（如“忘记”答案，装出粗心的样子，迟到，早退等）。②身体动作（如扭动，玩弄头物或衣物，抖动身体等）。③身体不适应症状（如抱怨头痛，肌肉抽动，身体部位有莫名的疼痛等）。④其他迹象（如用功过度，有完美主义思想，回避社交，不感正视他人，有敌意等）。 从辩证法的角度看，任何事物都应从正反方面看：焦虑除了类型有别外还应该有一个程度问题，尽管焦虑的程度难以确定，但在学习一种新的语言前都一定的焦虑，担心学习不好的心理有时能产生更大的动力。焦虑感过多或过少都可能成为阻碍英语学习获得成功的因素。所以对焦虑的认识不应该只停留在它的不利方面。 来自家长、老师、考试的压力再加上急于求成的心态都会使学生产生焦虑的情绪。如果压力适中，就会起积极作用，但压力过大，又会转化为消极作用。因此，老师一方面让学生明白英语学习是一个长期的循序渐进的过程，不能急于求成，要以平和的心态对待外语学习中遇到的困难；另一方面也应该让他们完成力所能及的任务，使他们能动起来，而不是无所事事。这样既可以促进学习的动力又可减少情感障碍，对不同的学生和不同的学习任务，我们应该采取不同的教学方法，趋利避害，尽可能地抑制焦虑在语言学习中的消极作用，同时充分发挥其积极作用。因为有些研究者发现一定程度的焦虑有助于学习，那就是焦虑的积极作用。比如由于竞赛和竞争意识而引发的适度焦虑，有时能激发人的潜能。与“不思进取”的平静比起来，这时的焦虑可能是有利于效率的提高。 笔者在实践教学中在针对焦虑问题的处理上提出了几点建议和设想。 1.建立融洽的师生关系，创设轻松的课堂气氛
英语论文之克服英语学习焦虑构建和谐英语课堂 内容摘要：学生从小学就开始学习英语，他们由最初的好奇、疑惑慢慢表现出各种情绪：兴奋、自信，也有部分学生出现了一定的心理现象：焦虑、抑郁、厌学等。其中，焦虑症状最为普遍。常表现为上课注意力不集中、小动作多、学习成绩偏差，有的学生还表现为在学习过程中过分敏感多虑、缺乏自信心。分析焦虑的原因，我们不难发现，由于英语是一门缺乏必要的语言环境课程，多数家长没有能力辅导孩子，只是强调英语学习的重要性。孩子一旦在课堂上不能很好的适应老师的教学，面对大量的信息输入，他们就会感到紧张不安和恐惧。如果缺乏良好的学习习惯，很容易失去学习兴趣和自信心，引起焦虑。不同程度或形式的焦虑对学习效果都会产生影响。下面笔者就针对学生英语学习的焦虑谈谈自己的一点体会。 关键词：英语学习学习焦虑和谐课堂 英语课堂是师生完成教学任务的主要场所，同时也是学生最容易产生焦虑心理，影响学习效率的地方。因为在英语课堂上，教师为了使英语教学获得成功必然会让学生大量操练听、说、读、写等技能练习，并不断对学生加以测试。加之教师在学生心目的威严，课堂紧张的节奏，很容易使学生置身于焦虑的氛围。有时教师一个不经意的表情或不太严厉的批评往往也会加剧学生焦虑的程度。另外，焦虑情绪具有传染性和弥漫性，个别学生的焦虑情绪如不加以及时的引导，很快就能感染给其他学生。学生带着紧张恐慌的焦虑心理上课，其思维活动会受到一定程度的抑制，就会觉得上课是一件枯燥而可怕的事情，没有一点乐趣可言，注意力分散，成绩下滑。课堂焦虑是学生学不好英语、厌学英语的重要因素之一。 那么，如何防止或消除学生这种课堂焦虑情绪的产生呢？
外教一对一https://www.doczj.com/doc/004201548.html, 成人如何从零开始学英语 对于很多成年人来说，现在开始学英语是一件十分头疼的事情，毕竟记忆力和精力都不如从前了，那么怎么从零开始学英语呢? 刚接触一门语言时，学习上会有很多困难，因为人的记忆力有限，还有时间上的问题，所以学习英语是个复杂而漫长的过程，零基础的话必须从英语的听、说、读、写等基础知识开始，在学习时应该养成温故知新的习惯，同时保持持之以恒的信念。 接下来就来谈谈零基础学习英语的一些好方法： 1)坚定学习英语的决心，制定合理的学习规划。 具体的学习规划，可以参加汉普森英语免费英语水平测试活动，专业外教会根据您的英语水平测试报告为您免费定制学习规划，如从英语音标开始，到背单词，然后到词组和句子的学习，培养自己每天学点英语的好习惯。 2)音标识记。 认识了英文26个字母之外，音标是学习英语基础的方面，具体学习方法可以通过搜集网上的音标学习视频和资料，总结音标的分类和发音，为单词的读、写以及记忆打下基础。 3)单词记忆。 背单词是贯穿整个英语学习的主线，无论你是零基础还是资深英语学习者，背单词始终是个循环不间断的程序，温故知新是记单词的原则。单词的记忆和拓展是一种必需，没有词汇的积累是很难将英语学习进行下去。 4)教材的选择。
外教一对一https://www.doczj.com/doc/004201548.html, 英语学习是个循序渐进的过程，选择适合自己的教材可以有效的引导自己如何去学习，对系统地掌握英语单词、词汇和句子的运用很有帮助;借助于教材，通过不断地学习和练习，将知识和运用相结合，是学习任何语言和技能的最好方式。 5)语言环境的创造。 大胆脱口而出，用英文进行沟通交流才是学习英语的真实目的。在国内很少有这种语言环境让我们去练习说英语，于是，有些人会通过汉普森英语角、成人口语培训班等形式去营造语言环境，零基础的建议在掌握词汇和简单句的基础上，去参加专门的英语培训机构来学习口语，有利于快速提升英语的听说能力。